All about changes

No, you haven't clicked the wrong button, dear readers, friends and followers! This is still me..."die amelie" and her (still quite messy) projects.

Only I felt that it was time to do some "cleaning up" and give my blog a more reduced appearance - so the focus is turned to the projects more easily. (Well, maybe we are speaking of "growing up" here too... ).

My latest projects after the holiday break were not too numerous (most of the recent projects that came up on my blog recently, were prepared in advance - even my DT make for Our Creative Corner's "Forgotten Things" challenge - , because I knew that it would become quite hectic after our return, with school starting again, a lot of laundry and flat cleaning to do and getting back to normal.) and I missed that "flow" - which was definitely interrupted by our holiday.
Believe me - I was frustrated by repeatedly sitting down at my workdesk and waiting for that special "initial spark" - which just didn't happen!

Witch Myrtle's Travel Case was a happy day crafting, but it is something different than creating - I hope you know what I mean... crafting and creating are slightly different things to me at least. Even though I love both. But the first needs more logical thinking and fiddling and the latter is something that almost "creates itself" - through me. There's an inner voice then, leading the way and my hands just do what the soul tells them to.

Those who have been following me for a while now, know that I don't do any art journaling. I tried once or twice, but was never content with the outcome, because what I had created then never felt like a piece of "me" - even more like trying  to be too hard what I simply wasn't.
And so I let go... I continued enjoying to create tags and also some canvases and altered objects....but art journaling was something I admired with other gifted people out there....

...until yesterday, when I sat down at my crafting desk after I had discovered a very old note book I bought about twenty years ago on my trip to New York (how time flies!). It has a binding that enables you to remove and add pages...which I discovered is perfect for art journalling as you can remove (and re-add) pages and can do them without having to pay attention not to spoil the rest of the journal. And that was the start of....well, I am not too sure of what exactly... ;)

But I know it is something I dare show you.... so see for yourself:

For this page I used white Gesso, ribbons, Glimmer Mists, a lot of my 3rdEye stamps, which are great for creating backgrounds, some Red Lead and Crafty Individuals stamps too (which I also love for their versatility) and texture paste with some stencils.

I had a really joyful play and the page almost built up on its own. Maybe you know that feeling too: seeing something that you have just finished and feeling about it as being foreign AND familiar with you at the same time.


My guess is, that when it feels like that, you have arrived at a new level on your creative journey and just freed something in you that has always been there - but you had just not been ready for it before.

My main fear - of overdoing the page as usual - just didn't come up at all. I redid some
of the areas where I had applied too much colour - and thus the page became even more "alive".

Well, maybe some of you think "I could have told you that much earlier!" right now, but even if you had (and I have some books about art journalling that tell about it too ;) - I guess I just had to discover that for myself.

Some things cannot be "done as dictated" - they have to be encountered and "lived" to become a truth for you.

But I guess I am boring you with all my "artist's babble"...I simply leave you to some more images and hope you have enjoyed your visit anyway.

I enter The Artistic Stamper's "Autumn" Challenge with this journal page and once more Frilly and Funkie's "Anything Goes" challenge. I also enter A Mixed Media Color Challenge #7 with it.

I would also like to apply for the DT Call over at Stampotique Designers Challenges that way - as this page shows a lot of me actually : my love for texture, for the use of black stamping with almost any of my creations, my love for nature, for a slight gothic (or quirky) touch and old photographs and my more or less "messy" approach to art and creating. (and Mr. Mojo seems to be back too ;). I really would love to get the chance to play with Stampotique's awesome stamps! (Well, who wouldn't... ;). I definitely love my Stampotique (one out of two I own at the moment *lol) stamp which I used with this tag. ;)

If you browse Stampotique's stamps you will find a great variety of stamps - many of them very versatile and just perfect for art journaling or creating awesome texture. So I do not only love the Daniel Torrente stamps but their whole range actually. 



Hugs and happy crafting,

Claudia - die amelie x